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Blogging Bonanza: Blaugust Eve

Editor’s Note: This article was meant to be published on Friday evening however it slipped through my fingers while I was preparing for Blaugust, whoops!

Today is the last day before this list explodes with hopeful bloggers vying to write a post per day for Tales of the Aggronaut’s annual Blaugust event. If you haven’t heard about it, there is still time to prepare. If you are participating – especially if you are a fairly new blogger or just starting out for this event – then drop a comment below so I know to follow you!

Island Getaway

Daybreak surprised a lot of folks. After a few months of denying the Isle of Refuge would be back for the new Time-Locked Progression server, the servers launched and the Isle of Refuge resurfaced with them. They even had the original opening to EverQuest II on a boat when a dragon attacks.

A few bloggers were pretty excited to report their discoveries, and to sate some of their nostalgia:

Warlords of Want More

With new content for Warlords of Draenor coming to what seems like a halt, there’s been a lot of reflection about this expansion’s legacy, but also a hope for the game’s future moving forward what will ultimately be billed as one of its most lackluster additions.

Looking at it from his own development experience, Talarian (of Gamer By Design) has a well-written and well-researched post about how huge an impact the growth of World of Warcraft’s dev team has had and will have. Though the size increase likely sacrificed much of quality we’ve come to know from new Blizzard experiences, Talarian remains optimistic that the change will have a huge impact for WoW’s future.

For another take, Alternative Chat has always been one of the biggest, most outspoken, and most passionate of World of Warcraft fans. She too is feeling the sting of Warlords of Draenor, though it hasn’t dampened her enthusiasm for the game one bit. In ‘Lonely Boy’, she reflects critically on the expansion’s failures, but remains hopeful because of the things Warlords of Draenor did manage to get right. It’s well worth the read.

Elsewheres

Of course, there’s more to MMORPGs and its blogging fans than EverQuest, Final Fantasy XIV, and World of Warcraft. Here are a few posts about other MMOs:

Ravalation has a fascinating interview with a guild leader from Star Wars: The Old Republic’s The Red Eclipse server. It’s a part of a series, so do follow the links and check out some of her past interviews. They are all an interesting look at some of SW:TOR’s most passionate fans, dedicated players, and the types of community leaders that all MMO playerbases should want. Check out her most recent here: Guild leadership interview: The Senate Guard.

Soultamer Gaming has a write-up on Skyforge with some early impressions. If you are interested in the new MMO, here is certainly a good place to start: MMO Noobery: Trying Out Skyforge.

Kill Ten Rats has details and opinions about Guild Wars 2’s most recent announced specialization for its expansion, Heart of Thorns, the Elementalist’s Tempest. You can check that out here: [GW2] Storm and Salt – What the Tempest Brings.

Gaming: Hobby? Passion? Both.

While there are always great write-ups of adventures in gaming on the blogs, sometimes bloggers venture out and talk about gaming in a big picture kind of way. Some of these posts can be thought-provoking or they hold up a mirror to our own habits or attitudes. Here are a few I would like to highlight:

In a post that I consider be required reading for all MMO bloggers, Bhagpuss over at Inventory Full pleas for positivity and understanding amongst the MMORPG genre’s most diehard fans. Citing an ever-present disdain for the current state of affairs, he rightfully points out that there’s an echo chamber effect among many in the community, and that we all need to get outside ourselves and our interests a bit more to see the bigger picture of the MMO genre. As someone who has really relaxed my criticism of MMOs as I find entirely new reasons to fall in love with them all over again (or, better, quest to find those new reasons), I think Bhagpuss makes some excellent points. Check that out here: MMO Breakfast Club.

On an entirely different, and far more personal, note, Eri over at Healing the Masses reflects on her significant other’s challenges with Free-to-Play monetization. By now, I think those of us who have never spent anything on microtransactions or DLC are the exception, rather than the rule. It is important to remember how dangerous some of these systems can be, especially when tied to an entertainment medium that has spent the last few decades perfecting its more addictive qualities. You can see that post here: My Husband the Whale.

Finally, Gaming Conversations with Braxwolf ends on a hopeful note for a future generation of gamers (because we all know this one’s is likely lost). In a story about his oldest son’s handling of an online heckler, he reflects that even parenting is open to some serious RNG. In this case though, things turned out better than expected. Check it out: Desensitization: The Good Kind.

To Those Who Are About To Write

Finally, it wouldn’t be a fitting Blaugust Eve post without a recap of those who’ve announced their intentions to join in already. Check out all the blogs that have already pledged their intentions to write daily, and make sure to add your’s if it is missing. Here’s the list (courtesy of Belghast’s own round-up list seen here):